The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Friday, May the 13th in Warm Springs at “Dinner’s Ready” for lunch. Hostess Erma Jean Brown arranged with chef and owner Chad Garrett to serve a delightful addition to the meal with the preferred dessert being chosen: Chad’s seven layer chocolate cake.
The club had a fun social time before moving down the road to Warm Springs Winery at 7227 Roosevelt Highway and touring the facility. Winery staffer Joe Bankovitch welcomed the ladies with most remembering him from running the Grand Wisteria from 2000 to 2005. Owner Ed Rocereta, a semi retired pharmacist was filling in at the garden club meeting time and date and could not lead the tour. Bankovitch did a super job explaining every step taken at the winery with the only disappointment being that the fourteen acres of actual vineyards being too far a walk for the club to make with the chance of showers looming.
For over eighteen years Rocereta has propagated or “grown the grape” as the Italians say and made wine for his own consumption. He has converted the garage into a winery and moved in much equipment. There were grapes on the property but Rocereta has cultivated fourteen more acres over the last four years and this fall will harvest from the new plantings.
Bankovitch explained the wine making process pointing out the 1500 gallon tanks where the juice is first placed. It takes several weeks to settle the sediment which is washed out three different times with chemicals that break down the impurities until a pure juice form is made. The yeast begins to digest the sugars present in the grape juice and carbon dioxide and alcohol are by-products of this process. The liquid is moved into other tanks and the blending process begins.
Warm Springs Winery uses only muscadines and the Georgia grown Norton grape. The different blends make for the different varieties. The wine is filtered into 750 ml bottles then goes to the machine which vacuums out the air and adds the cork. The labeling machine places labels front and back and finally they wrap plastic around the cork. Ed Rocereta designed the labels himself. The bottles are then stored at 72 degrees and upside down to keep the cork moistened.
Bankovitch explained the difficult licensing process at which time Warm Springs Winery has a license to be a winery and to consume on the premises, but they are working to get a license so our Meriwether wine can be distributed and sold in stores and served at restaurants.
The garden club members sampled seven varieties from Warm Springs Winery served in their distinctive logo etched glasses which are also available for purchase. Beginning with White House White-an off dry and crisp wine- they moved through Unfinished Portrait, a dry blush, to Lotus Pond White a lightly sweet wine. Recognizable are the clear Roosevelt references and local landmarks with the lotus pond being a familiar sight on the right as we travel into Warm Springs before going under the narrow train trestle.
Kudzu Rosé is a semi sweet rosé named for the official state invasive plant. It was followed by one of their most popular, Tribute, which has a distinctive muscadine aroma. Bankovitch kept reminding the ladies to swirl and aerate their wine and sniff the bouquet before drinking. Old Atlanta Red was a popular sweet red wine the club enjoyed. A last wine, Blueberry, was not so popular or tasty and Bankovitch pointed out that they only bottled 260 blueberry and they may not make it again which has encouraged some to buy it for the that reason alone!
Bankovitch allowed member Gail Coffee to remove the cork with an elegant de-corker attached to the wine tasting counter. Members purchased a number of bottles of wines and the winery’s glasses before departing. All agreed that by sampling the seven varieties they learned their favorite types and flavors, but overall, the lowly muscadine made a delicious wine.
